Vice Pres. Kamala Harris makes history once again, becoming the first woman to deliver the commencement address at the U.S. Naval Academy—and telling graduates the country faces a "significant turning point." https://t.co/ieU8ItEYgE pic.twitter.com/lXudUTZRJr
— ABC News (@ABC) May 29, 2021
Y’all enjoying your weekend, so far?
Kamala giving the keynote at US Naval Academy!! #TikTok https://t.co/qvxp6vRoac
— Liza Donnelly (@lizadonnelly) May 29, 2021
It was an honor to speak at the U.S. Naval Academy’s graduation and commissioning ceremony. To the class of 2021: You are tireless. You are ambitious. You are idealists in the truest sense of the word. Hold onto that. Congratulations! pic.twitter.com/NKoLuWhwU2
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) May 28, 2021
Vice President Kamala Harris focused on the challenges of the pandemic, climate change and cybersecurity threats during her keynote speech to graduates at the U.S. Naval Academy on Friday, the first by a woman at the 175-year-old institution. https://t.co/m99ovJIcnT
— WJZ | CBS Baltimore (@wjz) May 28, 2021
Midshipman First Class Sydney Barber, first Black woman to serve as Brigade Commander at the US Naval Academy.
On @VP Harris: “I plan to thank her for paving the way. She definitely paved the way for me, inspired me throughout my journey.” #RepresentationMatters #BlackGirlMagic pic.twitter.com/udM1Bwzv5z
— Madam Vice President Harris is GOAT! (@flywithkamala) May 29, 2021
For our Weekly Conversation, we’re joined by Vice President Kamala Harris and Midshipman Barber, the first Black woman to be selected as Brigade Commander for the Naval Academy. pic.twitter.com/7ecvdcb3KI
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 29, 2021
This dude in the background smiling so wide makes these pics that much better. https://t.co/bxvNrrptp0 pic.twitter.com/GCQUk9Js41
— Sarah (@sarob54) May 28, 2021
He’s the class president who presented the gift on behalf of the class! Clearly very excited
— Peter Velz (@PeterVelz46) May 28, 2021
Thanks to @PeterVelz46’s comment, I learned “This dude” is Class President Cameron Kinley.
He’s signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a free agent and still, an hour later, can make me smile seeing his smile.
— Sarah (@sarob54) May 28, 2021
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
Love my MVP!!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
those pics do me good after a discussion of racism in the military on the Nicolle Wallace program yesterday, and all the lunacy we’ve seen from active and retired officers in the last few years
Baud
Awesome.
SiubhanDuinne
That conversation between VP Harris and Midshipman Barber (in the White House tweet) is worth listening to.
Mary G
When she put on the jacket, there was such a big cheer! She was my first choice because she just epitomizes a joyful warrior – stern and serious when it’s called for, and then let loose that infectious smile and laugh. I just sigh in relief. TFG was so whiny/angry/piss-off-the- liberals all the time
ETA: it always a bit of a shock when I see her next to people and remember that she’s physically tiny but can just carry herself as big as anybody.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
That smile on the face of the class President makes my heart sing!
Geminid
@Baud: Those pictures are awesome. I really liked the one of Kamala Harris putting on the jacket. A gift, I guess from the graduating class.
Mary G
@Geminid: Yes, and it’s
on the label!
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’m old enough to remember when white nationalism/targeting racial minorities in the service got you kicked out. Proud to say that I helped two such miscreants get all the way the fuck out of my Air Force. I suspect standards slipped some based on the reporting…
SiubhanDuinne
@Mary G:
I love MVP’s laugh! It should be a ringtone :-)
Virtually every photo of TFG shows him scowling or pouting or grimacing, except for a very few in which he’s baring his teeth in a kind of constipated smile-like rictus.
RobertDSC-Mac Mini
Happy.
Amir Khalid
@SiubhanDuinne:
It says a lot about TFG that in seven-plus decades he has never really learned how to smile — a feat that infants manage without any conscious effort.
Villago Delenda Est
We’ll have to see what happens to these fine young ensigns as they hit the actual Navy and experience the adventure.
I’m hopeful.
MagdaInBlack
@SiubhanDuinne: I love it too, I’d get that ringtone.
As to TFG, he is one of the most humorless people I’ve ever seen. What passes for humor is mean spirited and cruel.
SiubhanDuinne
@Amir Khalid:
SAD!!
ETA: Fred Trump must have been a real piece of work. Not excusing Donald, but I do feel rather sorry for the baby he once was.
Dan B
Kamala always seems like fireworks level of energy. The class president seems lit up. I expect it’s common for him but today seems like he’s as happy as he’s ever been. It’s such a contrast to the raging RWNJ’s.
SiubhanDuinne
@MagdaInBlack:
This, exactly.
Alison Rose
I love everything about this post.
Alison Rose
@SiubhanDuinne: Even when he was younger, pics of him smiling always felt so…….slimy. Like a used-car salesman or the dude next to you on the bus who is jerking off under his coat.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Singer BJ Thomas has died, raindrops are no longer falling on his head. I skimmed over his obit and now I have an ear worm of the Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song. My mom loved that fucking song.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Your mom had good taste.
mrmoshpotato
@SiubhanDuinne:
Yup. I doubt the walking dungheap* has ever smiled genuinely in his life.
*Apologies to dungheaps.
MagdaInBlack
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Oh man, that takes me back. ” I Just Can’t Help Believing.”
debbie
Damn, they throw those hats high!
debbie
@Mary G:
There sure weren’t so many grins and smiles around when TFG showed up.
Ken
@debbie: I blame wokeness, whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean. Maybe it’s as simple as having your eyes open and being aware of what’s in front of you?
Geminid
There is some interesting news out of Israel tonight, reported in the Jerusalem Post: After Benjamin Netanyahu’s failed to form a government, Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid was given the mandate, and he apparently has negotiated a seven party coalition government. It will be composed of two liberal parties with 13 Knesset Members, two centrist parties with 25 MKs (including Yesh Atid’s 17 MKs), and three right wing parties with 20 MKs. Although these total only 58 out of the 120 Knesset members, the 10 Arab MKs from two parties are expected to abstain in the vote next week, enabling a minority government.
Six of the seven coalition parties were determined to oust Netanyahu. The seventh, Yamina, played hard to get, and it’s leader, the weaselly Naftali Bennet, will be premier first and then be followed in two years by Lapid.
This coalition could break up before it is presented to Israeli President Rivlin and is voted on in the Knesset next week, but the Times of Israel reports that Bennet has already been given extra security as the future premier.
Calouste
@debbie: Good thing, TFG doesn’t show up anymore. Has anyone seen him live or on camera in the last four months? He doesn’t even post videos on his blog, does he? (Probably can’t afford the bandwidth)
Jackie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Hey, won’t you play…
Thanks a lot!?
Jackie
@debbie: Remember how instantly the mood changed when TFG arrived for Bush 43’s Memorial Service?
Uncle Cosmo
@Geminid: And then that momser Bibi gets dragged by both feet to jail? Please? Pleeeeeeeez?!?!?
Ken
I don’t know which seems stranger to me — that these arrangements are allowed in the parliamentary system, or that people keep
falling foragreeing to them. Didn’t the last guy who made that agreement find that it’s not worth that much, when the government has fallen before his turn comes up?Ruckus
@SiubhanDuinne:
Well TFG has been for decades, and still is, full of shit. So that constipated smile is normal for him…..
Steve in the ATL
@Uncle Cosmo: inshallah!
Geminid
@Uncle Cosmo: Knowledgeable observers estimate that between the trial’s snail-like pace and potential appeals, it may take two years to reach a definitive resolution of Netanyahu’s criminal case.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Ruckus: Being that he’s “Shitforbrains”, that makes sense.
Another Scott
Excellent. Just excellent all around.
In other news, Krebs – Using info in fake reviews to find scammers:
Here’s hoping that the big companies and app stores automate searches like these so that these abuses are ended faster.
Cheers,
Scott.
trollhattan
Was there a ramp? Bottled water? How’d she do?
Three cheers for our new normal. What a difference a year makes.
Ruckus
@SiubhanDuinne:
I’ve never felt sorry for him, his siblings are relatively normal and he never was. He’s the family shit stain, like his dad and from what I’ve heard, his granddad. He’s had a gold plated life, that with his amazingly crappy brain and personality he’s turned into pure turd with legs. And he did that at an early age.
Steeplejack (phone)
Speaking of the former guy, this is a good thread on why it’s pointless to woo his voters.
Ruckus
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Where did you think I came up with the moniker?
debbie
@Geminid:
Good, something to hope for.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Ruckus: I figured the Navy, my dad used to use it too.
Geminid
@Ken: Netanyahu did precipitate an early election that would keep coalition partner Benny Gantz from taking over the premeirship this coming November. But Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party still held the agreed-to ministries, including the important power centers of the Defence, Foreign, and Justice Ministries. Blue and White Justice Minister Nissekorn was an especial thorn in Netanyahu’s side. Nissekorn effectively blocked Netanyahu’s efforts to have his criminal case dropped. That’s when Netanyahu caused the last election. So, I guess you could say Benny Gantz will have the last laugh.
debbie
@Calouste:
I’ve only seen him in those ridiculous paintings by that guy who sees him as an Adonis. ?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@SiubhanDuinne:
Mary Trump’s book lays it out. His mother had a lot of physical and mental health issues, spent a lot of his early childhood in the hospital or in her room. And Fred was a monster.
Mary G
@Ruckus: Mary Trump seems to have turned out OK, probably because TFG chose to pretend she didn’t exist.
debbie
@Jackie:
Yes. He was moping like Eric Cartman.
MagdaInBlack
Off the tfg topic, My friend who is attending a wedding at a Maine farm venue, has just sent me a picture of the dessert table. I am cursing her with foul words because she’s a tease AND the silly woman doesn’t like sweets. WTF?
But yay, she’s out and doing normal things finally ?
Geminid
@Mary G: Mary Trump turned out ok, but her father, Fred Trump’s oldest son, died young from alcoholism.
JML
I finished one book and I’m 2/3 through another one this weekend (will finish with ease). Took friday off from work and didn’t check email once. Grilling again tonight (burgers last night, pork chops tonight). Had some fine beers last night. Going to a baseball game tomorrow. Playing board games with other vaccinated friends on Monday.
This is a nice, relaxing weekend, and I’ve needed it.
zhena gogolia
Thank you for this wonderful post. So inspiring.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Oh yes, I’m familiar with that part of his life (from Mary Trump and other biographers). That’s why I do feel a bit sorry for the 2-year-old Donald. His older siblings were of an age that they had other coping skills, however limited, but DJT was at a peculiarly vulnerable stage of development. I think the hideously damaged person we came to know and loathe was and is a product of that little boy’s insecurities, his mother’s long absence, and his father’s toxicity.
As I said, though, none of this is in any way to excuse TFG for anything.
mrmoshpotato
@MagdaInBlack: Haha. Cheesecake?
mrmoshpotato
@JML: Who’s play(ing) ball! ?
zhena gogolia
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
It’s a great book. Donald is the one who learned how to avoid being abused by abusing the other siblings (emotionally). It’s a very convincing portrait of a horrible family. It did give me just a smidgen of sympathy for TFG while at the same time denouncing him.
MagdaInBlack
@mrmoshpotato: Cannoli’s
And a bunch of other things I can’t identify but I’m sure would be worth trying out ?
Ruckus
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Don’t recall that from there but it sure sounds like something I could have picked up there.
Sure Lurkalot
@Steeplejack (phone): Agreed, excellent thread. The only thing I would add is the exchange…the “freedom to do and think whatever they feel at any moment”, however contradictory, for blind loyalty is not in any sense equal. He deplores his deplorables more than we do.
Better to focus on Kamala, her spontaneous joy and warmth. I would love to have those qualities.
Skepticat
The genuine, celebratory smiles make me very happy. A high school friend was the brigade commander at Annapolis in 1965 and then went on to be a Rhodes Scholar, and Midshipman Barber is a worthy successor. The academy has come a long way—and in the right direction.
Ruckus
@Mary G:
I’d bet that being a woman had a bit to do with it as well. She was never going to get the same treatment/expectations as TFG. She made something of her education, TFG was basically incapable of that. She had the tools as a human and likely far less of the phony BS of her dad that TFG got the full force of and he still managed to screw that up.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Calouste: He says he’s going to start doing rallies again in June. I find that hard to believe
Ruckus
@Amir Khalid:
It’s possible that he’s never learned to smile because he’s just that screwed up. As you point out babies smile all the time, but some forget that, they learn to expect things that are supposed to make one happy but they really don’t, money for example. It’s obvious, from all of those who supposedly have way too much money that it doesn’t make anyone happy. Because if it’s having money that supposedly makes you happy, it’s quite likely that no matter how much you have, it’s never enough.
That’s Catch $$.
It’s a lot worse than Catch 22.
Geminid
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I wonder if trump will come to Virginia to “help” Glenn Youngkin’s campaign for governor. That’s the last thing Youngkin needs. trump is the biggest GOTV machine Virginia Democrats ever had. But trump craves the spotlight, and if he wants to come, Youngkin and the rest of the Virginia Republicans won’t have the guts to tell him to stay away.
SiubhanDuinne
@Ruckus:
Hence the title of Mary Trump’s book.
Nelle
@Skepticat: Hmm, my husband was in the Class of 65 at the Academy.
JML
@mrmoshpotato: Twins v. Royals. Not exactly a clash of titans, and yet I don’t care a bit. May is a mighty fine month for outdoor baseball in MN and it’s a great stadium to watch a game.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
This addresses a pet peeve of mine– over the last week, a lot of people who know better (Maddow, Hayes, Molly Jong-Fast) have been pretending they don’t understand why “Democrats” are letting Mitch McConnell get away with so much shit. And having historically been pretty lukewarm on Schumer, I think he’s played his hand about as well as anyone could.
On a simple human level, does Joe Manchin really not know that McConnell and Graham and Cruz and the other trumpers across the aisle are laughing at him?
laura
@MagdaInBlack: Ooga Chucka Ooga Chucka…lips as sweet as candy…man I’m an old.
Another Scott
@Ruckus:
He took great joy in laughing at insults of others. E.g. January 2016 (around 25-30s).
Cheers,
Scott.
MagdaInBlack
@laura: Thats ” Blue Suede” I had it on…a 45 ?
Mike in NC
We took the Old Town Trolley Tour in Key West today. A good deal like the ones in Charleston and Savannah. Got off to visit the Hemingway Museum. He was a war correspondent in France in 1944, and was so essential that General Patton awarded him an honorary Bronze Star since he spoke the language, knew the geography, and knew key Resistance leaders from the time he lived in Paris. The museum is filled with cats descended from Hemingway’s original critters. Tomorrow we head home.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@laura: @MagdaInBlack: Tom Nichols does a thing on Saturdays where he live-tweets replays of Casey Kasem’s Top Forty, today was 1971 and it included the Chick-a-boom song, which I vaguely remember from some cartoon about monsters who had a rock band, and I always thought they made up that song for the cartoon.
Also not one but two versions of “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from Godspell, and a Partridge family song.
zhena gogolia
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Ahem. “I Don’t Know How To Love Him” is from Jesus Christ Superstar, by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.
Geminid
@JML: Kansas City’s new center fielder, Michael A. Taylor, might be fun to watch. Taylor is a middling hitter, but he’s an outstanding defensive outfielder.
Ruckus
@SiubhanDuinne:
Great minds think alike? No that’s not it….
I have not read her book, nor do I plan to bother. But it’s not exactly a new theory, that of crappy people with too much money, or people made crappy by too much money. I myself have never had to worry about that.
Ruckus
@Another Scott:
Are you sure that’s joy? Seems more like an asshole who thinks he’s got something up on someone else.
Another Scott
@Ruckus: Tomato, Potato.
;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
tybee
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: “I Don’t Know How to Love Him”
wasn’t that also on “Jesus Christ Superstar”?
Villago Delenda Est
“I’d give it all up, for just a little bit more.” — C. Montgomery Burns
dexwood
@Villago Delenda Est: Thanks. Exactly what came to mind.
mrmoshpotato
@Villago Delenda Est: LOL I vaguely remember that line.
MagdaInBlack
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’d look up the Partridge song but I really do NOT want it stuck in my head ?
rikyrah
@Alison Rose:
Me too?
david
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
The cartoon was Sabrina The Teenage Witch and the monster band was the Groovie Goolies (Drac, Wolfie, and Frankie). Yes, the early 70s were the preteen years and bad cartoons were the staple of Saturday mornings.
White-haired Sabrina > Yellow-haired Sabrina, btw.
Ruckus
@Villago Delenda Est:
Yep. It’s not like I invented the concept, that’s for sure, others have noticed it throughout time.
Money and power.
Both can easily corrupt. And often have.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@zhena gogolia: @tybee: Duly noted for our next discussion of early 70s Jeebus-On-Broadway
@david: that’s it! thanks, that one was far down the memory hole
Comrade Colette
My niece received her commission today from VP Harris – she’s in one of the linked photos (although I’ll preserve her privacy and not ID her). So proud.
Ruckus
@Comrade Colette:
Very cool!
I’d bet it was very nice to get her commission from VP Harris. Her smile alone is worth it.
Uncle Cosmo
@Geminid: Allow me to earnestly hope that the judge in Bibi’s case has the chutzpah to order him remanded to custody in their most rudimentary slammer without bail for the entire long drawn-out process.
Skepticat
@Nelle:
So it obviously was a very good class!
artem1s
@mrmoshpotato:
Oh he did. whenever he was contemplating someone else’s pain and suffering it was the only time he showed an expression that looked genuine and not forced or faked. whether that feeling was happiness is debatable
The weird thing is narcissists and even sociopaths usually get pretty good at feigning emotions for their audiences, families and people they are around every day. for someone who spent so much time on camera, it’s pretty amazing he never quite pinned that one down.
cmorenc
@Ruckus:
The valid principle is that: the absence of money can make you unhappy, rather than that the possession of money can make you happy. Profound difference there – absence of money can cause obstacles to attaining happiness and satisfaction, but money itself doesn’t necessarily bring happiness and satisfaction with it.
LiminalOwl
@SiubhanDuinne: Yes, this.
I’m sure TFG learned to smile, as infants do. I’m also sure, having read Mary Trump’s book, that Fred’s emotions and behavior extinguished genuine smiles at a deep neurobiological level.
I feel compassion for the child Donald was, though none for the adult he chose to become.
LiminalOwl
@MagdaInBlack: nitpick alert: Blue SWede. (I didn’t have the 45, because I hated the song. Not per se, but because a bully parodied it and sang it nastily at me.)
I did have a few 45s, starting with “Black Water” (a song I do still love) and “Touch Me In the Morning.”
LiminalOwl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Agree 100%. And am I the only Alexandra Petri fan here? Joe Manchin and the Ten Good Republicans
MontyTheClipArtMongoose
@LiminalOwl: lol.
petri is a trust fund baby (just like her paper’s previous ownership). effectively, she’s cokie roberts, if cokie wanted to write for community instead of this week.
Another Scott
@MontyTheClipArtMongoose: Speaking of trust funds, …
Yeah, funny how that works. Hilarious. :-/
(via nycsouthpaw)
Cheers,
Scott.